The trailer for Johnny Depp's upcoming film "The Rum Diary" was finally released after years of anticipation.

The film, which is based on Hunter S. Thompson's 1998 book, "The Rum Diary," has been in pre-production since 2000 and Depp has been working on the film on-and-off since 2007. But judging from the trailer, is was well worth the wait.

In the film, Depp stars as Paul Kemp, a journalist who moves to San Juan, Puerto Rico to write for a newspaper seemingly staffed entirely by fellow alcoholics.

Filming began in 2009, starring Depp, Aaron Eckhart and Amber Heard, who reportedly beat out Scarlett Johansson and Keira Knightley for the role of Kemp's female obsession, Chenault. The cast also includes Giovanni Ribisi and Richard Jenkins.

Bruce Robinson, who adapted the screenplay from Thompson's novel and also directed the film, said he had to give up his sobriety in order to finish the script. After six-and-a-half years of sobriety, Robinson told The Independent that he overcame his writer's block by drinking a bottle of wine a day until he finished the script and then he quit drinking again.

"I wrote the script pretty quickly after that," Robinson told the U.K. newspaper. "But I stuck to wine as a medicine. I drank a bottle a day. When I finished the script, I went back to total sobriety."

Thompson, who also suffered from alcohol and drug addiction, wrote the novel when he was 22-years-old. The author, who also wrote "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (the film adaptation also starred Depp), commit suicide in 2005 at the age of 67.

Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Lyle Lovett were among those at his funeral, where Thompson's ashes were shot out of a cannon at his Colorado ranch, as per the writer's final wishes.

"The Rum Diary" is slated for release on October 28, 2011. Watch the trailer below.